DACs vs Turntables
- Thread starter hermit
- Start date
Bairnstorm
pfm Member
I suppose I qualify for this.
Vinyl front end is Thorens TD550, 12" Ortofon arm and Ortofon Jubilee or Koetsu Black cartridge. Phono is VTl all valve with Rothwell SUT so I suppose about £9k.
Digital is Fiio X3 in to an Audiolab QDac so a few hundred quid.
The vinyl sounds better but happily listen to the Fiio all day.
If I didn't have over 2,000 albums I would be happy with high res downloads.
I also have a Naim DC5x but it doesn't sound much different to the Fiio.
Vinyl front end is Thorens TD550, 12" Ortofon arm and Ortofon Jubilee or Koetsu Black cartridge. Phono is VTl all valve with Rothwell SUT so I suppose about £9k.
Digital is Fiio X3 in to an Audiolab QDac so a few hundred quid.
The vinyl sounds better but happily listen to the Fiio all day.
If I didn't have over 2,000 albums I would be happy with high res downloads.
I also have a Naim DC5x but it doesn't sound much different to the Fiio.
naimnut
Deep in the Mines of Soul
I am now using an MHDT Orchid and it has stopped me from being distracted by the question of whether CD, or streaming can sound as good as a turntable. It just sounds gorgeous. And I guess what I mean by that is that the music is gorgeous. And the DAC allows that beauty to come through.
Weirdness
pfm Member
I'd say not bloody likely - that said I was amazed at how well the Metrum Octave performed in comparison to a Lyra Delos/RP10/Parasound JC3 combo.
Just a touch lacking on the top and bottom end but what the Metrum had going for it in the midrange was really fantastic and I still miss it from time to time. Having moved
to a Chord 2qute and then the Schitt Yggdrasil not long after I still feel the Octave has the most analogue sound I've heard from digital.
Just a touch lacking on the top and bottom end but what the Metrum had going for it in the midrange was really fantastic and I still miss it from time to time. Having moved
to a Chord 2qute and then the Schitt Yggdrasil not long after I still feel the Octave has the most analogue sound I've heard from digital.
hifiaf
pfm Member
When I started my "LP12 Modification Frenzy" a few months ago, I thought my relatively modest Schiit Gungnir Multibit DAC might hold its own against my vinyl system. I'm stunned at how much better my turntable now sounds in comparison. But the costs aren't equal: my Gungnir cost $1250 USD; my LP12 only started sounding significantly better than the Gungnir once I'd invested about $3000 ($1000 for a used 80s LP12; Cirkus bearing; Nima arm; Adikt cartridge; Mober one-piece subchassis).
G
Guest432
Guest
The chord64 is very detailed but is the absolute opposite of anything NOS (Audio Note sound) I wanted to punch the thing after about 3 days
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
Not in my (limited) experience it doesn't! I've tried recording vinyl to digital and found a very noticeable drop in sound quality and that it sounded like, well... a digital recording of the vinyl.... clicks and pops and tracing distortion and all but obviously a digital version of it. YMMV!
FWIW I would say live recordings I've made to reel to reel tape, half track, 15IPS, are about the most "real" I've heard...
DimitryZ
pfm Member
Reel rules! I owned one for many years, but it became difficult to maintain.
misterdog
Not the canine kind
Very similar to mine except that Si's transformer output stage is Swedish whereas mine came from Kazakhstan..
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/vendor-s-bazaar/327794-output-transformers-dacs.html
Lithium iron phosphate battery supply, with some super capacitors for good measure. Feeding a Raspberry Pi ( 1TB SSD library) > FIFO>Dual Mono ES9038Q2M DAC>balanced transformer output stage.
From IanCanada.
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pc-...gb-goodies-impressions-tweaks-mods-hints.html
vinylslug
pfm Member
That's where this hobby becomes personal preference. I love my DAC64, but 'Lebowski couldn't live with it. There's a huge amount of love for the Rega DAC on here (and other forums) yet I wasn't enamoured at all. You might have to try a few DACs before you find your own sweet spot.
onlyconnect
pfm Member
Sure. It depends on the source material. The opposite is true as well.
I am both an objectivist and a subjectivist.
Tim
hermit
Aye, right.
Sony TTS-8000 or Technics SP10
SME V-12 with Kiseki Purpleheart NOS or Phasemation PP-500
Aurorasound Vida VI6
Yamaha WXC50 with Audiosector NOS Dac
Luxman L590ax
Tannoy Monitor Gold 15" in Lockwood Major cabs with RFC crossovers
John
Rack’em Up!
My Sonos Amp digitizes its line input from the tape output of my main system. When playing records, I fail to notice any significant difference between the Sonos system and the all analog main system that’s feeding it. I assume the AD converter and digital amp of the Sonos is doing a good enough job of it. My records sound equally good on both systems using similar Tannoy studio monitors.
I find that hard to buy?
A CD player doesn't take up a lot of space. A DAC, even less. If you're talking about the software then yes, vinyl or CD can get out of hand but it doesn't make much difference if it's all one or split between the two. And music on your computer takes up no room at all!
The budget issue I don't buy at all. You can buy used turntables, CD players and DACs of pretty decent quality for little money these days. Sounds like you're making excuses. Sounds like it's more about the lifestyle choices than access to music.
I begrudgingly bought a CD player only because the feckers stopped releasing music on vinyl. Today both formats work for me so I have a much wider choice of music available, and that's all that's ever mattered to me.
Something like this?
Hmm, so you have experience of a TDA1543 NOS DAC which I guess also has no specific recovery filter but are not impressed with it versus your record deck, you are looking for something that measures well. You are getting recommendations for more NOS DACs without recovery filters amongst other options. This is only something you can resolve with your heart and your ears but the two are incompatible in my head. That is NOS DACs don't measure anything like as well as oversampling DACs (if I am allowed to generalise!) and ones without recovery filters doubley so, indeed they are arguably broken by design from an objecive point of view, a recovery filter being an essential part of turning descrete time samples back into a analogue waveform. From a subjective point of view such designs can sound very nice and more like your record deck, as my experience of a friends AN system and DAC tells me. I don't see where this is going to be honest! Things you might like to try: other NOS DACs, a Chord DAC for their approach (Mojo is in budget, Qutest a bit outside but not much), a Sabre DAC (say a Topping DX7 Pro or a SMSL M500 all in budget), an AKM DAC (say a Topping D70 or RME ADI-2 both in budget). There are lots of options to try and there seems to be either a consensus all DACs sound the same or that there is a house sound to the DACs, up to you to find out which you think I feel. Good luck and let us know how you get on!
hermit
Aye, right.
I think that is a newer model. I have this model but I have no idea of how they differ:
